working out # of round bales per dexter?

[Dirtslinger]

Is there a formula to calculate the number of bales needed per animal or by weight?
Thanks!

[savinggrace]

Unfortunately there are so many variables....size, if the cow is fresh or growing, the weather, supplemental grain, quality of hay, weight of bale.

My 1600 lb (yes she's big!) Guernsey producing 2 gal of milk per day above and beyond what the calf is getting, on 1-2 hrs of pasture per day and getting 8 lbs of 16% sweet feed 2x per day goes through one round bale grass/alfalfa mix every two weeks.

not sure if that helps but maybe others can post what they go through as well.

[bachelorb]

I'll start it out. Heres how I calculate how many bales I need. This is for my small cow/calf operation. I don't know about dairy needs.

Cattle need about 3% of their body weight per day in hay and forage. I try to feed 5lbs of corn per cow per day when they are on hay. So taking that into account a 1000 lb cow would need 30 lbs of hay and forage per day minus the five pounds of corn. So a 1000 lb cow needs 25 lbs of hay per day.

I square bale, so I estimate each bale weighs 50 lbs. I also have 120 day Hay feeding period each year (make sure you estimate more days then you need.... hay lasts year to year.)

So one cow eats a bale every two days so I'll need 60 bales per cow per year. Since I feed 5 lbs of corn too, I'll also need 12 bushels of corn per cow per year.

Now for the big disclaimer..... This is totally dependent on how your herd looks. This year because of the drought, my hay won't be as good as in years past.... I may need to adjust the hay or the corn depending on how they look. Thats why I put up extra bales (not this year though)and the whole thing might change next year. (Hows that for straddling the fence).

This is what I'm using this year, Hope it gives you a rough estimate.

BTW I think 5x5 round bales are about 1000lbs and 4x5's are about 750lbs if your putting up round. I'd ask someone else about that though since I'm not that familiar with 'em.

Good Luck,

[bachelorb]

Originally Posted by savinggrace

My 1600 lb (yes she's big!) Guernsey producing 2 gal of milk per day above and beyond what the calf is getting, on 1-2 hrs of pasture per day and getting 8 lbs of 16% sweet feed 2x per day goes through one round bale grass/alfalfa mix every two weeks.

If your using a 4x5 bale, thats pretty close to what I'm doing.